Well, another year is coming to a close, and I always like hearing about everyone else's exploits, I like the opportunity to think back on the year I had, and also to think about the year to come.

My biggest goals for this last year were to avoid further injuries, and do something about my nagging back troubles. I'd say I succeeded reasonably well on both counts. My back is still troublesome, but as long as I keep up my exercises, it's not bad enough to keep me from climbing.

Beyond that, my big goal was to climb the Nose on El Cap. I spent countless hours in my back yard up in a tree, practicing all my systems. Most of the summer was dedicated to it. Well I gave it a good try, but my partner and I only made it halfway up. Very disappointing but it was still super fun. And I'd like to try again soon, before I forget everything I learned.

Beyond that, a few highlights.

I got out maybe 60-70 days this year - not bad.

Finally sent Quarter of a Man at Indian Creek, on my third attempt in as many years. I actually built a little crack machine in my garage to prepare for this one!

And I got to visit some new to me areas: Squamish, Vedauwoo, Empire (CO), Lime Creek (CO), El Rito (NM).

Goals for next year? So much depends on my partners. We'll see.

But I have set a birthday challenge. I turn 43 this year, and I hope to have sent 43 5.12 routes (lifetime, not just this year) by my birthday. So far, lifetime, I'm a little over halfway there. So there's a good chance I will fail, but... we shall see.

Well looking at the forecast it seems that the rest of the year is shot for climbing.

2012 was a pretty 'alright' year considering I was working full-time the entire year. I did a lot of bouldering and cragging in Yosemite Valley. Not much long stuff unfortunately, and once again I've failed to do my first big-wall. But some highlights from the Valley are:

-Steck-Salathe: My favorite climb of the year and one that I had been putting off for years.

-Lots of cragging on Elephant Rock, most of which was awesome. Very low water in the Merced for most of the year so it was perfect.

-Several short slab climbs on the North Face Apron of Middle Cathedral. All of them were butt-puckering adrenaline rushes. This is my new favorite slab.

Outside of climbing in the Valley, I was able to get away for a few week-long trips. Bishop bouldering in March, the Obelisk and Courtright in July, Red Rocks in November.

The best part is that I was able to save up about $10k and I plan on spending the majority of 2013 on the road and climbing. I don't really have any goals for next year other than to not get injured and climb a bunch of really rad shit. Smith, Index and N Cascades, Squamish, and the Bugaboos are on the itinerary. I've never been to any of them.

2012 was the first summer my husband and I were living apart because of my work (I took a job 3 hours away from him). I also hurt my finger first of July and it's still nagging me.

Because of these two factors I didn't climb that much last summer and when I did it wasn't very intense climbing.

This coming summer I'll still be working north and my husband will still be working long hours. I don't know if I'll actually get out climbing any more frequently than I did last year but I hope to make my days out climbing more productive than they were last year.

Since I started climbing in 2000, I touched the real rocks the least number of times in 2012 due to kids, works and deadth in the family. I think I got outside may be 6 times and 5 of those were just day trip. The only one of note worthy was a 1 week long, first time trip to Yosemite. It was my first time experiencing big-wall climbing. I had 5 days to climb and somehow we managed to climb Half-Dome Regular NWF and Washington Column - The Prowl. It was quite an amazing experience. 2013 is reserved for the Nose.

A solid year for me. My husband is injured so he was unable to climb with me all year. I love climbing with him and it's hard to not have him as a partner.

That said, I did have some wonderful partners this year and very much enjoyed my climbing. I lead my first gunks 10 and I hope it will help me develop the confidence to lead many more. While I did very little gym climbing, I did train rigorously with a trainer and I managed to do a cardio workout almost 6 days per week.

I just got back from Cochise, expecting to get in a bit more outdoor climbing before the year end (I am getting some aid gear for Christmas).

Goals for next year: I want to grow my confidence so that it is equal to my physical climbing ability. It's time to regularly take on greater challenges.

For the first time in many years, Tami and I stayed in the Potrero all Summer, instead of going to our home in Wisconsin. I spent the whole Summer, and Fall, bolting a new 8 pitch route on the Mota Wall, and it looks like it's going to take me well into the Winter to finish cleaning it and bolting some variations.

I was gonna say, "Hey, this is my job!" But you linked mine so I guess I'll let you have it this year

This year was a weird one. I didn't get out as much as last year but only about 5 days less (45). I did 50 last year, not counting ice. It was also a very heavy sport climbing year. I would like to say I am stronger because of it, but it was also very erratic when we would get out. Less weekends and more day trips.

You see, we have a teenage daughter that keeps us pretty busy. Old enough that she has her own schedule, but young enough that I don't want to leave her home

Here are some highlights:

Went to Thailand for the second time. On sighted two 12a's Got on a handful of 12c's or harder and felt like I could get them with a little work (Of course with my erratic schedule I never put in that work)

I had a good year overall. I got outdoors a total of 27 days which included 112 pitches and 21 first ascents. I only had to go to the gym 4 times.

Our crew started developing Longstack Precipice in the Lakes Region of NH. I had climbed at the crag in the late 70s when I would ditch high school, and put up 8-10 lines back then. Due to questionable access the cliff sat undeveloped until late last year, but now boasts 60 quality climbs of which I have the FA of 22 of them.

The cliff is about 1/3 mile long and up to 170' tall with routes ranging from 5.5-5.12, almost all of exceptional quality despite the fact that it is still cleaning up a bit. This has been called by many the best crag in central and southern NH.

Many of the routes were established ground up, but others were prepped top down by scrubbing and adding only necessary bolts. This is NOT a sport area, although there are a few all bolted climbs.

The pic above is on 'Way of the Peaceful Warrior" 5.9+. The one below is after rap scrubbing "Earth and Sky" 5.9 PG.

I also bagged 4 FAs on Humphreys Ledge, and another 4 at the newly developed Halls Ledge in Jackson, NH.

Highlights include late nights at Longstack Precipice, climbing via headlamp and walking out under the full moon to howling coyote.

I got to repeat a bunch of North Conway classics that I hadn't done in 15-20 years like the Hotter Than Hell-Inferno link up. I was also asked to help judge the USA Climbing Adult Bouldering Nationals in Colorado Springs last February, which is always fun.

With all of the new route development and time scrubbing, I didn't get on as many pitches as I could have, so I didn't push the grades as hard as I would have liked. Still, I managed to onsight lead a handful of .11s (.12s in the gym don't count, eva...)

I was waylaid from March - May with an injury, and developed a mild case of achilles tendonitis mid Summer which I am treating with RICE and managing until I shut down for 6-8 weeks to let it heal, probably Jan & Feb.

The big news was that we finally sold our house of 18 years, and have moved into a rental for the winter. My wife and I bought a 27' RV and a Tundra to pull it, and when my son graduates from UMass in May we are hitting the road for a 3-4 month, open ended cross country road trip. We plan on hitting all the National Parks out west, and eventually relocate to the Front Range of CO, my lifelong dream. We want to be near Boulder, but not necessarily in Boulder, as we have family near there and my daughter just moved last Summer to Denver. I can't wait to climb with her again.

We fly out to Denver for 11 days over Christmas/New Years, and I hope to get out to Clear Creek Canyon for some (shudder) sport climbing while we are there, so my numbers for 2012 should go up.

By far my best year as far as getting outside goes. If the weather cooperates i'll have over 90 days outside by the end of December. Sent my hardest trad and hardest boulder problems to date. Got back out to Red Rocks and visited the Chattanooga area twice, both very cool. Spent a lot of time at the New and fell in love with Seneca.

On the down side, didn't get to the Gunks as much as i would've liked and didn't do a whole lot of sport climbing either. Suffered through a variety of progress impeding injuries as well.

Really looking forward to 2013. Have a trip scheduled to do the Grand Wall and check out the rest of Squamish in June. Mega psyched for that. Also looking to get to the Daks and maybe Rocktown or HP40. And so help me god I will not injure any more fingers! Okay the last one is probably a pipe dream but it can't hurt to be optimistic.

Mine's gonna be 4 in April. I figure i have about 9 years until his schedule completely runs me into the ground. Although he's already got quite the packed calendar for someone who can't even tie his shoes yet.

Thanks for starting this thread, Cracklover, ad strong work on Quarter of a Man! These end-of-the-year reports always get me psyched to keep training and climbing more.

My year was productive, but not as good as 2011, which was an unusually good year for me. Still, there were some highpoints, and here they are in chronological order:

(don't read any further if you hate spray and reference to climbing grades. I climb so that I can improve, and the easiest way to chart improvement is by working through grades.)

SPRING: I tried a more structured, periodized training system beginning in January; hangboarding, campusing, enduro-laps. It helped, I think.

In March, I managed to onsight Replicant, an 11+/12- stemming dihedral at the New which I really had to work for.

My wife and I spent way too much time projecting some steep lines at the Colosseum near the NRG. Although we had some setbacks (mostly shity weather and condensation), we both managed to get our hardest redpoints to date. She sent Apollo Reed for her first 13a, and I sent The Pod for my first (soft) 13b. I also got Apollo wired enough that I could do it on command as a warmup and a cooldown, which was fun. Most important, when my wife sent her prodge, she stripped down to nothing and jumped into the Lake naked in front of like 20 people. Great times.

SUMMER: I committed to working a guiding job in Southern Utah's Canyon Country, which was really cool, but did not give me a lot of time to climb. The area I was living at (Torrey, UT) was surrounded by amazing Wingate on all sides, and unlike a lot of Wingate, was nice and cool throughout a lot of the summer. Unfortunately, I had a VERY hard time finding partners.

What little climbing I was able to do was really good, though. I originally learned to climb trad on desert redrock splitters, but since I moved East I had not climbed desert redrock splitters for nearly five years. I was not sure how my fitness for pure desert endurance would be, but it turns out that all my sport fitness transferred over to the cracks really well. On one of the few days that I had a partner, I managed to onsight my hardest trad route ever, a shortish 12c tips splitter over a roof. I also did a few FAs, some on solo-TR, and some with partners. Can't wait to get back to that area to do more.

In July, I did my only climbing trip of the summer, up to Tensleep in WY. No great sends, but had a fun time, and managed to finish up onsighting the Shinto Wall, which I had started last year.

Also, in August I scrambled up to Trench Warfare, a 12+ OW in Little Cottonwood, near SLC, UT. Just did a few really weak hangdog runs on it, but it was the first hard offwidth I really have ever tried, and I look forward to getting back on it again in the future.

FALL: Started off the fall by going back to the RRG, which I had sworn off of last spring after way too many crowds and drama there. Got several 12+'s second go, and built up my fitness pretty consistently.

Did not do too much other trad in the fall, although I did onsight Steve Martin's Face, a very intricate face-trad route at the NRG.

In November, I finally managed to put away Dial 911, a techy, very beta-intensive, and sandbagged 13a at Endless Wall, NRG, which I think is my favorite sport line ever.

Then, the day before Thanksgiving at the RRG, I took a fall on a warmup, pulled one piece of gear, and fractured my foot pretty badly for the worst injury I've ever had. I'm now laid up in a cast with a bunch of pins and screws in my foot. No climbing at all until March at the earliest, and I have no idea how bad of shape I will be in, although I have been making progress on the hangboard and even the benchpress.

So yeah, the year in review: fun sport projecting, some fun FAs and single pitch trad.

What I did not do, that I wish I had: looking back, I realized that I did NO multipitch this year, which I'm bummed about. I also did not travel to a single new climbing area at all. I did a few fun trad lines, but nowhere near enough, and both of the 12+ crack projects that I had went unfulfilled. Next year, I really hope to do less projecting and more exploring.

Thanks for starting this thread, Cracklover, ad strong work on Quarter of a Man! These end-of-the-year reports always get me psyched to keep training and climbing more.

My year was productive, but not as good as 2011, which was an unusually good year for me. Still, there were some highpoints, and here they are in chronological order:

(don't read any further if you hate spray and reference to climbing grades. I climb so that I can improve, and the easiest way to chart improvement is by working through grades.)

SPRING: I tried a more structured, periodized training system beginning in January; hangboarding, campusing, enduro-laps. It helped, I think.

In March, I managed to onsight Replicant, an 11+/12- stemming dihedral at the New which I really had to work for.

My wife and I spent way too much time projecting some steep lines at the Colosseum near the NRG. Although we had some setbacks (mostly shity weather and condensation), we both managed to get our hardest redpoints to date. She sent Apollo Reed for her first 13a, and I sent The Pod for my first (soft) 13b. I also got Apollo wired enough that I could do it on command as a warmup and a cooldown, which was fun. Most important, when my wife sent her prodge, she stripped down to nothing and jumped into the Lake naked in front of like 20 people. Great times.

SUMMER: I committed to working a guiding job in Southern Utah's Canyon Country, which was really cool, but did not give me a lot of time to climb. The area I was living at (Torrey, UT) was surrounded by amazing Wingate on all sides, and unlike a lot of Wingate, was nice and cool throughout a lot of the summer. Unfortunately, I had a VERY hard time finding partners.

What little climbing I was able to do was really good, though. I originally learned to climb trad on desert redrock splitters, but since I moved East I had not climbed desert redrock splitters for nearly five years. I was not sure how my fitness for pure desert endurance would be, but it turns out that all my sport fitness transferred over to the cracks really well. On one of the few days that I had a partner, I managed to onsight my hardest trad route ever, a shortish 12c tips splitter over a roof. I also did a few FAs, some on solo-TR, and some with partners. Can't wait to get back to that area to do more.

In July, I did my only climbing trip of the summer, up to Tensleep in WY. No great sends, but had a fun time, and managed to finish up onsighting the Shinto Wall, which I had started last year.

Also, in August I scrambled up to Trench Warfare, a 12+ OW in Little Cottonwood, near SLC, UT. Just did a few really weak hangdog runs on it, but it was the first hard offwidth I really have ever tried, and I look forward to getting back on it again in the future.

FALL: Started off the fall by going back to the RRG, which I had sworn off of last spring after way too many crowds and drama there. Got several 12+'s second go, and built up my fitness pretty consistently.

Did not do too much other trad in the fall, although I did onsight Steve Martin's Face, a very intricate face-trad route at the NRG.

In November, I finally managed to put away Dial 911, a techy, very beta-intensive, and sandbagged 13a at Endless Wall, NRG, which I think is my favorite sport line ever.

Then, the day before Thanksgiving at the RRG, I took a fall on a warmup, pulled one piece of gear, and fractured my foot pretty badly for the worst injury I've ever had. I'm now laid up in a cast with a bunch of pins and screws in my foot. No climbing at all until March at the earliest, and I have no idea how bad of shape I will be in, although I have been making progress on the hangboard and even the benchpress.

So yeah, the year in review: fun sport projecting, some fun FAs and single pitch trad.

What I did not do, that I wish I had: looking back, I realized that I did NO multipitch this year, which I'm bummed about. I also did not travel to a single new climbing area at all. I did a few fun trad lines, but nowhere near enough, and both of the 12+ crack projects that I had went unfulfilled. Next year, I really hope to do less projecting and more exploring.

I climbed in the gym for the beginning of the year. I miss my gym partners, they were great!

Thanks to NA, I climbed on the real rock in Virginia several times. I only brought ham sammiches once, after I figured out from the SPCI that no one really wanted the sammiches in the first place!

Over the summer, I moved to Colorado to go to grad school...before grad school started, I climbed in the gym a bit and then met up with a Polish dude from RC.com who was visiting and we climbed around Golden.

Then I got swept up into school and haven't climbed and am growing weak and possibly fat. BUT there is always hope for 2013! I have met a couple of people around here who say they rock climb, so I'm thinkin' I'll have to make them go once the weather changes back from skiing weather. Especially since I had to buy a rope and a full set of quickdraws for the Golden adventures.

One of my New Years Resolution last year was to get at least 8 hours sleep a day. Achieved nicely. (I can break this rule for long routes)

Every year I seem to take a month to six weeks off. Not because I lack motivation, but because things interfere with climbing. As a teacher, this time usually fell around the beginning of the school year. Not a bad thing when you consider I have just spent 6 to 8 weeks climbing. My body probably needed the rest, but I would not have rested voluntarily.

Overall, this has been a slow climbing year for me. I'm guessing about 100 days on the rock. Mostly because I started my own business and the school I worked at needed a teacher to cover classes for a couple months. That was in August and I', still here. (Will remain till March)

Did some climbing photography. Not as much as usual, but some new themes with shooting indoors.

My wife and I celebrated new years sport climbing in Southern Thailand.

Spent lots of time climbing the crags near Surabaya with my wife.

My gym manager doing what he likes best, climbing outdoors.

Working on a project there. 6 years now, over 50 attempts. I climbed it once on my third try, broke a key hold through the crux the next time, and another before the crux the next time around. With the missing holds, haven't figured out the sequence yet.

Visited Batu Cave in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Some excellent climbing there within 20 minutes of downtown. I would live in KL with no problems.

Started to establish a new "big wall" route. Should be about 18 to 20 pitches when complete. Rainy season came, so the project is on hold. Bolts are needed, but overall it will be a mixed route.

Did some much needed Climbing Community Service project. Anchor replacements.

I had to look through my desk blotter calendar to get a real sense of how many days I actually climbed since I note just about every event on that thing. I was suprised to find that my total days climbing outside were just 19.

This summer I had an interesting injury. I actually sprained the scar tissue of a hernia surgery that I had ten years ago. It was almost as painful as the hernia itself and it took nearly two months to heal.

I also became a father in late 2011 so I've been awful busy.

However, most of my days were actually of high quality. Less top-roping and more following, mult-pitching, and finally leading. In terms of grade difficulty, I'm not doing anything fantastic. But I'm very happy otherwise with my progression as a climber.

This past month has been a good month for climbing, and I feel like going into 2013 the momentum will continue. I'm hopeful for a proper ice season and if not I'll take the cool-to-cold days and climb outside during the winter. My only expectation are to climb more, go to more places, and have a good time.